Blue Flowers
by Ranlie
Summary: Robbie Rotten gives Stephanie a blue flower that is designed to make her obey his every command. Will it work? Will Robbie make Stephanie demand that Sportacus leave Lazytown forever? Or will Robbie's plans go awry as usual? Complete!
1. A Peace Offering

AN: The worst time for me to write is when I haven't got an idea for a plot. Unfortunately, this has been the case for a long time, and I've grown irritated enough with my MIA muse that I decided to just sit down and write something. Ideas are picking at my brain, so I think that if I'm stubborn, I'll be able to shape this into something worthwhile in future chapters without it being too inane. Even if it's just to practice characterization. Meh. Apologies, anyway.

Disclaimer: I'm writing on the only thing I own that's worth anything, so please don't sue me. I don't own Lazy Town or have anything to do with it in any meaningful way. If anyone wants to give it to me, though, I'm good with that. Really.

* * *

Stephanie knocked her heels against the brick wall, her hands grasping its edge for balance. The brick still radiated the heat of the summer day despite the evening's cool breeze, and she was comfortably warm as she waited for the stars to peek out, one by one.

A blue shape caught her eye, and she took a moment to watch Sportacus' ship meander across the sky. She barely noticed it anymore, just taking it for granted that it would be there, like the sun or the moon. She figured that it was almost eight o'clock . Would Sportacus be getting ready for bed? she wondered. Surely he didn't wear his uniform to bed.

She giggled, imagining Sportacus in a set of blue pajamas. Or maybe he wore--

"Quit that, you pink palfrey," snapped a voice from behind her.

Stephanie squeaked and, sliding off the wall, whirled around to see who had sneaked up to her. Robbie Rotten met her gaze and glared back, his chin raised in haughty disdain. His clothes were disheveled, his face smeared with soot, and his normally-perfect hair was standing straight up in some places.

"I've been listening to you bang on that wall for half an hour. You just ruined an important experiment," Robbie grumbled. "Isn't it eight-oh-eight yet? I thought you all powered down your obnoxious selves then."

"No, it's not bedtime yet," Stephanie said. She hopped back up onto the wall so that she was closer to Robbie's eye-level. It was hard to look up at him all the time. Sportacus wasn't so tall, she realized.Sportacus also never looked so irritated.

"Yes, well, it's impossible to invent things with all this racket," Robbie said with a sniff. "Even for a genius like me. Now quit...quit..." He paused, and looked more closely at her. "What were you doing, anyway? Why aren't you--" he waggled his fingers in the air and rolled his eyes, "--exercising?"

Stephanie pointed up at the sky. Sportacus' ship had moved to one side now, and a fair number of stars were now visible. "I'm stargazing. It's pretty out tonight."

"An excuse for the pink platypus to harass me both night and day now," Robbie groaned, throwing his hands up in the air. "At this rate, I'll never have peace even if I do get rid of Sportacus."

"What's a platypus?" Stephanie asked.

Robbie opened his mouth to explain, but his brows furrowed fiercely, and no sound came out. Stephanie suspected that he wasn't sure either, and was about to tell him as much when he stammered, "It's an adult thing. Not for children. Now, go to bed, and quit your infernal hammering."

He paused, looking as if he were about to stomp back home, but a different idea seemed to occur to him. After a moment's thought he instead removed a small blue flower from an inner pocket of his vest. He studied it briefly, and then, as if deciding something, he offered it to Stephanie with a slow smile. She looked at it, then at him, her face radiating wariness.

His smile broadened painfully, and his voice became oily and coaxing. "Perhaps I was too harsh. You're only a..." he twisted his head to one side, as if he were fighting to speak, "...cute. Little. Girl. I was going to give this to someone else, but...here. Take it as a peace offering."

Stephanie's gaze slid down to the flower. It was pretty, and she had never seen anything like it before. Like a peony and a daisy, with a bit of poppy thrown in...and blue, how did he get it to be blue? Plans of splicing stems and planting more of them danced behind her eyes as she looked back up at Robbie. "Wow, thanks, Robbie!" she exclaimed, and reached out for the flower.

He jerked it back, and leaned close to her, still smiling. "Don't forget to put it right beside your bed," he said, startling her with his sudden intimacy. "It gets...lonely. You wouldn't want it to get lonely, would you?"

Stephanie blinked as Robbie again offered her the flower. After a moment's hesitation, she reached out and grasped the stem carefully. This time he let her take it. "I'll take good care of it," she promised him. "And I really am sorry to have bothered you."

Robbie gave her another smile, his upper lip twitching with the effort. "Quite all right," he said. He bowed stiffly to her in friendly farewell, and with that, whirled around to march off toward the billboard that loomed in the distance.

Stephanie giggled with released tension once he was far enough away. Robbie certainly was odd, but maybe he wasn't so bad after all. All of her friends knew that Stephanie liked flowers, but she didn't think that Robbie had ever noticed. She tucked the flower into her headband, where it wouldn't get lost.

The streetlight above her flicked on, causing Stephanie to look up in surprise. It was later than she had thought, and she was pretty sure that it was past her bedtime by now.

Stephanie looked up at Sportacus' ship, which was now hovering over the town hall. She waved hugely and shouted, "Good night, Sportacus!" With a hop and a spin, Stephanie skipped toward home, the blue flower bobbing merrily in her hair.


	2. Assuming Control

AN: And it continues! I even have a plot, of all things. Imagine that.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, as usual.

* * *

Robbie flew into his furry orange chair with a resounding thump. Rearranging his splayed limbs, he grabbed for his periscope. It went blurry for a few moments as he scanned for the mayor's house, but soon it came into focus.

There was Stephanie in the window, now dressed in pink pajamas as she readied herself for bed. He watched as she placed the flower--now in a spiraled pink vase--on the windowsill. Robbie grimaced. "I should have told her to put it right beside her face," he grumbled. "You have to tell these brats _everything_ for an evil plot to work."

The light in Stephanie's room went out, and although he could still see the flower in the silvery moonlight, he knew that nothing more would happen until morning. He snapped the periscope's handles up, and it rose into the ceiling.

"Genius!" he crowed, rising from his chair with a flourish. He goose-stepped over to a tray of soil, from which several green sprouts grew. He hovered over them greedily, clasping his hands in barely controlled excitement.

"How can I live with myself?" he laughed. "Who knew that the girl's own flowers could be turned against her? Oh, the thrill of it all!" He hopped in place, grinning like mad. "This is even better than giving the flower to Sportacrock! I won't even have to raise a finger. She'll do it all for me!

"Soon enough..." he said gleefully, his voice dripping oil, "...soon she'll have to obey my every command. And when I order her to tell Sportacus that she never wants to see him again, he'll have to leave Lazytown, FOREVER!"

The "forever" echoed through Robbie's home, and he grinned at the sound of his own voice.

Sportacus was just cleaning up his breakfast when he felt his crystal light up. He smiled, and frisbee'd the last plate into a cabinet that promptly folded up into the wall. "Who could be in trouble so early in the morning?" he wondered aloud. With a flip, he landed on his platform, which lowered to give him a good view of Lazytown.

One hand shading his eyes, Sportacus surveyed the sleepy town. A cat had knocked over one of the town center's trash cans in the night--that would have to be cleaned up--but beyond that, everything seemed peaceful. He saw lights on in Pixel, Stingy and the Mayor's houses. He even thought he saw a flash of pink hair in the Mayor's window as Stephanie bounced out of bed. He laughed to himself. Now _there_ was someone who was bound to get into trouble today.

But nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. Sportacus shrugged, and his crystal stopped flashing, as if it had given up on him. "Sorry, crystal," he said with feeling. "Perhaps you are confused. I'm sure you will get to flash soon enough."

Stephanie felt wonderful. She had awoken with a feeling that it was going to be a great day, just waiting for her. After a quick breakfast of fruit and granola, she was out the door and headed towards the soccer field.

The other kids were already there. Someone had brought a soccer ball, but Trixie and Stingy were standing over it while Pixel and Ziggy stood to one side, looking awkward. Sportacus was also there, looking perplexed as he watched the first two children. Ziggy spotted Stephanie first.

"Stephanie!" he cried, sounding relieved. "We've been waiting for you!"

"No we haven't," Pixel snorted, rolling his eyes. He motioned toward Trixie and Stingy. "I mean, we wanted you to play, but we'd already have started if they could agree on who gets Sportacus on their team."

"Hi, Stephanie," Sportacus said, smiling brilliantly at her. "How are you?"

"Wonderful!" Stephanie said, grinning back at him. She looked at Ziggy and Pixel, then at Trixie and Stingy. She put her hands on her hips and shouted, "Hey!"

Trixie looked up, surprised at the intrusion. She had Stingy's head in a headlock by this point. He tried to look up at her as well, but was hindered somewhat by his predicament.

"Sportacus is better at soccer than any of us," Stephanie said, putting one hand on Sportacus' arm as if to emphasize her point. Sportacus smiled benignly down at her. "Why doesn't he play on his own team, and everyone else can play on another team?"

Stingy looked rebellious, but Trixie showed him a menacing fist and he relented. She released him, and he rubbed at his neck. "That's a good idea, Stephanie," Stingy said sullenly. Then he perked up. "Good thing it was _mine_ all along."

The other kids groaned, but left it alone. At least they would get to play soccer now.

Sportacus picked up the soccer ball, and began to pass it back and forth between his feet. Ziggy laughed, watching him. Sportacus had tossed the ball up, and was about to knock it into the net with his head when he realized that Stephanie was skipping away.

"Stephanie, where are you--ow!" The ball thumped him on the top of the head, and rolled off toward Stingy. Stingy took the opportunity to run off with it, with the other kids loudly taking chase. Sportacus rubbed the top of his head, and looked for Stephanie again. She was farther away now, and he realized that she was headed for the billboard in the distance.

"Where are you going?" Sportacus shouted, scratching his head now in confusion.

Stephanie whirled around and waved happily at Sportacus again. "I'll be back later!" she shouted back. "I've gotta go see Robbie!"

"Robbie Rotten!" Sportacus exclaimed in surprise. "Why?"

Her answer was mangled by distance and the wailing of the now soccer ball-less Stingy, but Sportacus could swear that she had cheerfully shouted,

"Because I love him!"


	3. Losing Control

AN: More plot! Huzzah! I'm getting sillier than I meant to with this, but then, Lazytown kind of lends itself toward that.

Disclaimer: checks Nope, still don't own it.

* * *

Sleep came easily to Robbie Rotten, especially when his feathered orange earplugs were set just so, as they were today. The silence between his ears was blissful, and so his mind was sluggish to realize that a weight had pressed into his lap, and that there was something tickling his nose.

A faint murmur invaded his peace, and it was that that finally forced Robbie's eyes open. At first all he could see was a mass of pink, which caused him to snort in surprise. The pink disappeared, to be replaced by the shining brown eyes of Stephanie. Her lips moved and he heard the murmur again.

"What possible reason--" Robbie paused, then popped the earplugs out. Ambient sounds flooded back to him, and he continued, "What possible reason do you have for being in _my_ home, you pink porpoise?"

Stephanie gave him a beatific smile, and put her head down so that she could snuggle into his chest. "Because I love you, silly," she said cheerfully. "It's about time you woke up anyway. It's a beautiful day outside!"

Robbie shuddered dramatically and made a gagging noise in the back of his throat. He stood quickly, sending a tangle of blanket and girl tumbling to the ground. Stephanie giggled as she rolled on the orange carpet, and sat up with a grin when she came to a stop.

For Robbie's part, he ignored her. He stormed over to his plants, and picked up a manual that had come with the seeds. He flipped through the index.

"Abatement of symptoms...ablepsy issues...admission of guilt...ah ha! Adoration complexes." Robbie quieted, his lips moving quickly as he read that section closely. Stephanie was still watching him, and had begun to hum a happy tune as she swayed happily back and forth with his blanket around her shoulders.

"The adoration complex is the most common side effect of a poorly managed persephonus maximus. The grower should be reminded that for proper inhalation of the pollen, the persephonus maximus must be placed immediately beside the subject's face while he or she sleeps," Robbie said, his voice rising with despair as he read on, "Should the subject inhale too little pollen, temporary and/or permanent side effects such as the adoration complex may occur."

"I liked the flower you gave me," Stephanie piped up. He turned to stare at her in horror. She beamed back. "I put it in the window by my bed, so everyone can see it too."

"Permanent," Robbie murmured, taking a step back from the pink horror that he'd created. Perhaps it wasn't all bad, though. Perhaps she _had_ breathed in enough of the mind-control pollen: enough to make this disaster somewhat salvageable. "Er, Stephanie," he said slowly, "I _command_ you to tell Sportacus to leave Lazytown...forever?" His tone rose in hopeful optimism with the last word, and he was rewarded with only a faint "forever? forever?" echo about his home.

Stephanie looked pensive, with her head tilted to one side. After a moment, she gave her head a lazy shake. "Nope, I think I'll skip that. I like Sportacus." Her thoughtful expression reverted back to one of abject devotion. "But don't worry, I like _you_ best, Robbie."

A scream of terror ripped through Lazytown, sending flocks of birds fleeing from their perches and otherwise complacent dogs to barking. Sportacus and the other kids stopped in their tracks to look around for the source. Stingy paused for only a moment, then stole the soccer ball that Sportacus had abandoned and began to kick goal after goal. "Mine, mine, mine, mine!" he cheered in delight.

"W-what was that?" Ziggy asked, coming to stand beside Sportacus in case it happened again.

Sportacus' brow was furrowed in confusion as he tried to place the vaguely familiar sound, but before he could respond, his crystal lit up. "Someone's in tr--"

A shrieking purple and blue blur zipped past Sportacus, sending him into a spin. When he caught his balance again, he and the children stared at the cloud of dust that streaked from the billboard, across the soccer field, and away towards the town hall.

"Was that..." started Ziggy.

"Robbie Rotten?" Pixel asked.

"It looked like the right colours, anyway." Trixie added. "Who knew he could run that fast?"

A familiar pink form followed Robbie's trail. Stephanie stopped when she came to the bewildered group. "Hi, guys!" she said cheerily. "Have you seen Robbie anywhere?"

"Yes," Sportacus said, eyeing her warily. "He was headed towards the center of town. But he was frightened of something. Do you know what's wrong?"

Stephanie laughed and shook her head. "Well, I'm not quite sure what he's all upset about," she explained. "First he gives me this flower last night, and then when I came to see him this morning, he gets all upset and says that he accidentally gave me an adoration complex." She giggled, apparently unconcerned about this. "Can you imagine? I feel great! I'm just trying to get him to settle down now so I can teach him how to dance with me.

"Oh! That reminds me." Stephanie touched Sportacus' sleeve lightly, until he bent down far enough that she could whisper in his ear. He could feel the heat of her flushed cheeks from this distance. "Robbie's not too keen on you. He said he wants me to tell you to leave, so I suppose I should." When Sportacus gave her a peculiar look, Stephanie shook her head vigorously in response to the unasked question, and laughed again. "No no, I don't want you to leave. I love having you here. But at least I can tell him that I passed along the message. And if he asks you, you can tell him I did too, okay?"

"Stephanie, I think that Robbie might be right about the, ah, 'adoration complex'," Sportacus told her gently. He put a kindly hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps we should go to Pixel's house to see if he can fix up something to help you..."

"No time now!" Stephanie interrupted, and slipped out from his grasp. She grinned at the others and gave them a happy wave. "He's got a head start now, and I've gotta catch up before he's too tired to learn how to dance!"

And with that, she skipped off toward the center of town.

"That was..." Ziggy started.

"Abnormal?" offered Pixel.

"Disturbing?" Trixie suggested.

Ziggy turned to look at them both. "Weeeeird," he finished. All three nodded.

Sportacus sighed as his crystal began to flash again. "I am not sure who to save, Robbie or Stephanie," he said, more to himself than to anyone else. He turned to the kids. "I think I am going to find out more about this. You stay here and get out of Robbie's way if he comes through again, okay?"

After the kids nodded, Sportacus flung his arms first one way, then the other, and then took off after the distant pink figure of Stephanie.


	4. Regaining Control

AN: We're nearing the end. See it? Over there? With the thing? That's the end.

AN squared: Thank you very much for the kind reviews!

Disclaimer: Still don't own them.

* * *

Sportacus was flipping past the big apple tree when he heard a whispered "Psst!" He paused, and the sound repeated itself. "Psst! Sportakook! Up here!" 

Perplexed, Sportacus looked up into the apple tree, and saw Robbie Rotten clinging, sloth-like, to one of its branches. Sportacus grinned, amused despite himself. "Hello, Robbie!" he said.

"Shh!" Robbie hissed, putting both index fingers to his lips to emphasise the point. There was a pregnant pause as he realised that he was only holding onto the branch with his legs, then he fell to the ground in an undignified purple heap.

Sportacus reached down and grabbed him, pulling him to his feet. Robbie dusted himself off, then went to hide behind the trunk of the tree. He motioned for Sportacus to follow him.

"You've been making bad plans again, Robbie," Sportacus said as he slid behind the tree with the haunted-looking villain. "Stephanie is still looking for you, you know."

Robbie put his hands to his head, a pained expression on his face. "She's making me do more exercise than I've ever done before, just _running_ from her! She's a freak of nature! Make her go away!"

Sportacus surveyed him for a moment, then shrugged. "I can't," he said simply.

"But you have to!" Robbie was on his knees now, hanging off Sportacus' sleeve. "The flower was supposed to make her do whatever I said, but she didn't take enough pollen and now she'll kill me with her insipid _kindness_!" He spat the last word out and made a face of disgust before going back to his begging. "Pleeeeease?"

The crystal began to flash again, and they could both hear Stephanie in the distance, singing a familiar tune. "There's always a way..."

Sportacus smiled faintly. She was probably thinking of applying the principle to Robbie's dancing. Then he sighed. Perhaps there was a way to fix this problem after all. Stephanie certainly wouldn't quit, if she were in her right mind. He should try to figure something out.

"You keep running. Or climbing," Sportacus said to Robbie. "I will do...something."

With a jump and a flip, Sportacus was off. He had gone barely a block when he heard Robbie's renewed shrieks, and Stephanie innocent laughter.

* * *

The flower itself was easy enough to find. Stephanie had left it on her windowsill in the bright sunlight. Sportacus looked at it with a pensive expression. 

"It is a very small thing to have caused such trouble," he said, folding his arms to think. "I would leave Robbie to suffer, but I do not think that Stephanie would appreciate my doing that if the flower ever wore off."

Something important tickled the back of his mind. What had Robbie said? "She did not take enough of the pollen," he said to himself. He leaned close to the flower to take a sniff, but stopped himself with a little laugh. The flower twitched in his hand, and just as he moved his face away from it, it let loose a little spurt of purple pollen.

Sportacus held the flower at arm's length in case it tried to infect him again. So this was how it brought in its victims. "Clever," he mused, a smile on his lips. "I wonder if..."

Trailing off, Sportacus seemed to think for a few more moments before tucking the flower into one of his pockets. His smile widened, and he nodded in satisfaction at his own plan. "This should work perfectly!"

Another jump and flip, and he was on his way back to save Stephanie...and Robbie.

* * *

"Get away from me!" 

"Come on, it's fun!"

"_Sportacus!_"

With a mighty leap, Sportacus landed between Stephanie and Robbie, who was cowering behind the apple tree while Stephanie tried to flush him out. Robbie flung himself onto Sportacus, grabbing his legs to make sure that his savior couldn't leave.

"Hi, Sportacus!" Stephanie said cheerfully. She leaned to one side to beam at Robbie. "I think I've almost got him now, thanks."

Sportacus nodded and withdrew the flower from his pocket. "I'm sure you do, Stephanie. But would you please hold this first?" He held it out for her.

Stephanie obediently took the flower from him. She smiled as she put it up to her nose to sniff its perfume. Sportacus watched with interest as the flower released a puff of pollen. The girl breathed it in deeply.

"Ah--" Stephanie drew the flower away from her nose and scrunched her eyes closed. "Ah--"

"Now you've done it, Sportacrud," Robbie hissed at the hero. "I'll expire from her eternal excitement. Be sure they put, 'Beautiful Genius' on my tombstone."

"Ah-choo!" Stephanie squeaked. She dropped the flower on the ground and rubbed at her eyes with her hands. Several sniffles followed.

"Feeling better, Stephanie?" Sportacus asked, ignoring the persistent tugging on his pant leg.

Stephanie shook her head to clear it, and then smiled shyly up at Sportacus. "Well, kind off," she admitted, but then blushed. "Um...could you just tell me how I got here?"

"She's _cured_?" Robbie sprung to his feet, back to his old self. "She's cured!" he crowed. "I can go back home and get rid of all that pink that she threw around!"

"She isn't cured yet," Sportacus said, reaching out to grab Robbie's collar. Robbie made a strangled sound and was dragged back before he could make good his escape.

"If I'm right, Stephanie has now received enough of your mind-control pollen to do whatever you say," Sportacus continued. Robbie's eyes lit up, but only briefly, as Sportacus twisted his collar a little harder. "And _you_ will now order her to _never_ do as you say, unless she wants to."

"But that'll cancel every--erk!" Robbie's feet were now dangling off the ground, with Sportacus giving him a steady look as he held him high. Robbie smiled weakly. "Right, of course. Er, Stephanie?"

Stephanie was plucking on Sportacus' other sleeve, muttering something about how maybe he should put Robbie down before they got into trouble. She blinked and looked up at Robbie when he said her name. "Yes?"

"Tell Sportacus to--gah!" Sportacus shook him a bit to remind him of their deal, and Robbie swung back and forth.

"Toga," Stephanie said to Sportacus. Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Toga?"

"Robbie?" Sportacus prompted him.

"Oh _fine_," Robbie groaned. "Stephanie, you never do what I tell you, unless you want to. Now _put me down_!"

Sportacus obliged, allowing Robbie's feet to touch the ground again. Robbie straightened his vest, radiating indignance at them both. He gave Sportacus a surreptitious glance, then shouted, "Leave Lazytown forever!" atStephanie before he could be stopped.

Stephanieregarded him with disdain. "Er, no."

Robbie jumped up and down in frustration. "Drat, drat, drat!" he shouted. "I'll get you both later!" And with that, he stormed back to his billboard.

Sportacus and Stephanie watched him go. Her hand was still on his arm, and when Stephanie finally looked back up at her hero, Sportacus was already smiling down at her.

"Now, are you going to explain to me what happened," Stephanie asked, "Or am I going to have to chase Robbie back down?"

Sportacus laughed and put his hand over hers. "I think that it would best be discussed over some sports candy," he said, and began to lead her toward the soccer field. "Let's go find the others."


End file.
